No plea deal reached in fatal Scituate DUI case
1:36 PM Thu, May 28, 2009 | Permalink
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PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Scituate man accused of driving under the influence and causing an accident that killed a mother of six was referred to the Office of the Public Defender Thursday after negotiations for a plea deal failed to materialize. David Hazard, 38, faces charges of driving under the influence, death resulting; driving to endanger, death resulting, and refusing to submit to a chemical test, second offense. His current defense attorney, Paul DiMaio, said plea deal discussions with Assistant Attorney General Jay Sullivan had borne no fruit and asked Superior Court Judge William E. Carnes Jr. to refer Hazard to the public defender's office. "My client needs counsel," DiMaio told the court. "He doesn't have any money and he needs the experts and all the things the public defender can provide for him [should the case move forward to trial]." Hazard will be back in court on June 11 for a motion to quash, and again on July 20 for a pretrial conference. Hazard is currently on $25,000 bail with surety and is not allowed to drive. Judge Carnes also ruled that Hazard could attend a field trip to Mystic Aquarium with his son next month. The April 7 crash, on Route 12 in Scituate, killed Katherine O'Toole, 48, who was driving home from her 3-to-11 p.m. work shift at the Cedar Crest nursing home, in Cranston, where she was a certified nursing assistant. Hazard had allegedly been drinking and taking prescription medication on April 7 before he drove from his house at 354 Burnt Hill Rd. and onto Route 12, a narrow road crossing the Gainer Dam, shortly after 11 p.m. His large pickup truck crossed the lanes and crashed head-on into the small convertible driven by O'Toole, of Foster. The police allege that Hazard refused to submit to a chemical test for alcohol. It was the second time Hazard has faced this charge in a year. Hazard has a history of driving violations, including several in one year. He surrendered his driver's license voluntarily last month after the fatal crash. 
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"Hazard will be back in court on June 11 for a motion to quash, and again on July 20 for a pretrial conference." What does that mean?
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Defendants file motions to quash when they are seeking to suppress evidence, or challenge the way some sort of evidence was discovered (maybe an illegal search or something of that nature). A pretrial conference is a regular scheduled meeting where both sides in a case get together to update the judge on where the case stands.
Talia Buford
Reporter
The Providence Journal
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When are reporters, and others who should know better, going to stop calling DUI crashes an "accident"? This guy, and other drunks like him, do not cause "accidents" that kill people...they make a choice to drink, take drugs (prescription or otherwise - doesn't really matter, does it?) and get behind the wheel of a car. It was no accident that killed the mother of six and deprived her family of her loving presence - it was inevitable. And what's up with letting this guy go to CT? Judge is a soft touch, apparently.
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He's allowed to go on field trip with his son. Isn't that special while 6 kids will never have their mother going on field trips with them. The school shouldn't allow a killer to join them on a field trip. It's not like he needs to be proven guilty. The world knows he is. Hello RI justice system. Let's wake up. Lock these drunks up and throw away the keys. Now the state has to defend him and pay his legal fees on top of it all. Something needs to change for the better. Start with cleaning out the state house and moving on from there.
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Is this really the type of person who should be around kids on a school field trip? If I were a parent of one of these kids, I would not want him around my kids.
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I too am outraged as hell as everyone else about what happened....and yes,I'd like to see that womans family have their way w/ him as well....however we need to remember that he is allowed his time in court and is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a jury of his peers.
But where will they find 12 ppl who have done what he has done?...wouldn't they already be in Prison??????
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i am outraged, how could a judge ok him to go on a field trip. i think they should ask the principal of the school for his oppinion, i feel bad for his child, the things he must have to deal with in school, im sure everyone knows, my heart goes out to the six children, that will never be able to go to mystic aquarium with their mom, god bless all of them. remember your mom will always be with you, now shes your guardian angel.
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This individual obviously has no concept of what he's (allegedly) done. Clearly, his attorney was favoring a plea deal and Hazard wouldn't budge off his not-guilty plea. That's fine. Now the taxpayers must bear the burden of paying for a public defender to mount a defense for Mr. Hazard. I would think that if Mr. Hazard had a defense with a reasonable chance of success his own attorney wouldn't have been recommending a plea deal. This will take a while but I'm pretty sure that Mr. Hazard will rue the day that he didn't cut the deal. He'll probably double, at least, his time "inside". But then, anyone arrogant or stupid enough to think that he can beat this with his driving record was going to do substantial time sooner or later anyway.
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The good citizens of RI should be outraged -- this guy just seems to be getting a few too many breaks. He should be in jail!
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Everybody is all over the defendant. How about the states court system allowing him to operate a motor vechile with all his priors. The Courts and the judge who allowed it SHOULD BE ON TRIAL.
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This man should never be allowed to drive again. PERIOD! Look at the history of his driving record. Yea,Yea I know he needs to make a living and be able to support himself ,but he KILLED someone and the legal system should punish him.Not a fine here and a fine there. Take away his RIGHT to drive and let him sit in a cell at the ACI and think about what has happened.
I know innocent until proven guilty, but I also know firsthand that is not the case, We all including me are pre judging him and maybe we all are wrong, but I doubt it.
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Just another reason not to vote Patrick Lynch as Govenor and his brother as AG. This state is pathetic
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